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Dragons
Dragons were extremely powerful and ancient creatures, some still living during the New Age but believed to have existed during the Old Age as well. They were known to be highly intelligent and had a reputation for being extremely manipulative. Very little was known about dragons by the general populace, partly due to their tendency towards extreme seclusion, but also due to the fantastic mental powers they possessed, allowing them to erase the memories of others. It was due in part due to the efforts of Christabel Miller to record details about dragons in her journal that any information was available at all. Biology Dragons began their natural life cycle as eggs that eventually hatched into terragons. Immature dragons grew much more quickly than most creatures and required large amounts of food. Dragons were known to live for many hundreds or thousands of years. Perhaps because of their longevity, dragons shared a mutual respect with the Elf race. It was said that dragons were born with an eternal flame in their hearts, and when they perished at the end of their life cycle, the flame consumed them, leaving nothing but ash. Dragons could reproduce either sexually or asexually. When a creature of another species consumed dragon's blood, they underwent a metamorphosis and transformed into a dragon hybrid. This was the reason why there were many different types of creatures all collectively known as dragons; they had retained some vestigial characteristics of their previous form. The precise size that dragons could grow to be was not known, though they could easily surpass the size of any other known creature, reaching hundreds of feet in length from head to tail. Dragons had two front talons, two rear talons, and a pair of clawed wings that enabled them to reach flight. They had multiple redundant sensory organs that could only be called "ears" in the most general sense. They possessed exceptionally keen eyesight. Dragons were capable of expelling pillars of blueish-white, superheated fire from their nostrils and mouths. This served as their primary means of offense, and was perhaps their most distinctive and most frequently cited ability. A dragon's esophagus was coated with a heat-resistant mucous membrane that protected it from harming itself. The flames were produced by a mixture of ingested chemicals that were retained in its separate stomachs and combined together only for combustion. Dragon flames were typically around two thousand degrees, capable of melting steel. Dragons also had the capacity to enter the mind of another sapient being. It was said that a dragon could rewrite a person's memory or manipulate their thoughts or feelings. It was perhaps for this reason that there were so few dragon sightings on record; a dragon who did not wish to be seen or noticed could easily erase the knowledge of such a sighting from the minds of anyone he chose. Whether this was an innate psychic power or some form of sorcery was not known. Immature terragons lacked a conscious control of this skill, and their powers extended only so far as causing beings to experience their deepest fantasies. Dragons preferred to dwell in large caverns, safe from the affairs of mortals. They greedily coveted gold, due in part to it being a soft, comfortable metal with a high melting point. The hide of a dragon was water-repellant, fire-resistant, and very durable despite being extremely lightweight. On the rare occasions that a person managed to defeat and skin a dragon, the resultant dragonskin was invaluable. The tears from a dragon were likewise purported to have amazing curative and restorative powers. Even a single surviving bone was incredibly valuable. Some stories said that dragons hunted once every new moon, cementing the notion that dragons (or, at least, full-grown ones) ate only once a month. Whether this was indeed true is unknown. Dragons of Old During unctual year 3776, a dragon was involved in an encounter with the dread pirate Captain Peg-Face, a duel that would go down in human legend as the definitive dragon encounter. The dragon of that legend attacked from both the sea and from the air, biting a hole in the pirate ship that resulted in the loss of their treasure and eventually killing the captain and his crew. At one time, dragons had freely stolen food and gold and virgins from the Greater Races, and the different races united together and hunted the dragons nearly to extinction. Eventually, the races of the realm made a pact with the dragons. The humans agreed to leave the remaining dragons in peace and allow them to live out their existence, and in exchange, the dragons agreed not to set foot upon human territory. The Swordedge Mountains were believed to have been created specifically as a safe haven for the dragons, intended to be inaccessible to outsiders. Another condition of the treaty was that humans agreed not to develop any additional airships. Despite the treaty, both sides would occasionally violate these terms. The Lost Treasure of Torlynn By the time of unctual year 3887, dragons were believed to be nearly extinct, with only a handful of their kind continuing to interact with the world of men. After the King of Torlynn took an army of soldiers to the Swordedge Mountains, hoping to claim a baby dragon for a pet, Forever the dragon decimated his army and agreed to spare the King only if he delivered his entire kingdom's supply of gold. Later, the dragon amended the deal and agreed to supply the King with a vial of his blood if he would continue to deliver gold until it covered the floor of his lair. After the dragon was visited by a group of adventurers seeking the disappearance of the missing butterfly people, he largely refused to offer his assistance, citing his lack of desire to involve himself in the affairs of mortals. The Quest for the World-Breaker Following her apparent death, Christabel Miller underwent a transformation into a terragon, or baby dragon, as a result of her consuming some dragon's blood. After she was taken aboard Xanthippe, she was often used by the crew to make spectators forget that they had seen the ship in flight. After discovering that a dragon had altered the memories of the Royal Knights who had traveled to the Golden Desert in search of the moths, Mariposa sought out Forever a second time to question him about it. He revealed that he was not involved (though he did have a hand in the theft of the Butterfly's Flight from Torlynn Castle), also remarking that if a newborn dragon had been born within the last 100 years, he would likely have known about it. Both Forever and Christabel the dragon were part of the subsequent battle over Torlynn Castle when the goblins aboard Xanthippe attacked the castle. Embarrassment of Riches There was reportedly a clash between two dragons in 3892, resulting in the death of Forever. Dragon meat on a stick was allegedly one of the treats available at the tenth annual Torlynn Fair, though in truth it was just wyvern meat in a tangy sauce. Behind the Scenes The ability of the dragons from the Butterfly Princess series to erase memories was an attempt at explaining how such a species might be largely a mystery to the various races. The Quest for the World-Breaker suggests that dragons might somehow be related to dinosaurs, though the exact relationship between them is not clear. Category:Creatures Category:Magic-Users